Do Google Adwords really work?

By Louis White

For three months Elisha Casagrande tried Google AdWords to launch her new fashion website, Repeat Offender.

She hired a search engine marketing agency that specialised in Google Adwords to help her with a campaign and budgeted $1500 a month, plus agency fees.

Elisha Casagrande decided to pull the pin on Google AdWords and continue with alternative marketing strategies.

The result? Not one sale.

"Initially, I was told that Google AdWords would guarantee the required amount of clicks needed to our site to generate traffic and convert that traffic to sales," Casagrande says. "In the online retail industry, a conversion rate of 1% is recommended, therefore we needed quite a lot of visitors, or clicks to the site, to be able to reach our sales goals. Google AdWords advises that if you spend a certain amount per month you are guaranteed the amount of clicks needed to convert to sales.

Advertisement

"After a few months of launching the site, I decided to conduct my own research regarding Google Adwords. I asked staff, friends, family, potential customers and existing customers if they had ever clicked on the ads that appeared first under a Google search, or perhaps on a blog and/or website.

"Everybody I asked said that they have never clicked on those ads, as they were considered quite 'spammy' and instead they usually click on the first few search results in Google. After hearing this, I decided to pull the pin on Google AdWords and continue with our alternative marketing strategies."

Casagrande is now using an SEO campaign, along with Facebook ads, Facebook-boosted posts, Rich Pins through Pinterest and Instagress through Instagram. These forms of advertising are proving the most effective.

"We also utilise email campaigns, PR, blogger outreach programs, retargeting and competitions, which are all gaining momentum at a steady pace," she adds.

When Dean Salakas started The Party People, the first thing he did was invest in Google AdWords.

"For two reasons, targeting and tracking," he says. "Today, when people need something, they often turn to Google and parties are no exception. AdWords advertising puts our advertising right in front of people when they are looking. With AdWords the advertising is extremely relevant. I mean, if someone searches 'birthday party supplies' there is a good chance I have something they want."

Salakas has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on Google AdWords and was one of the first to join when it launched.

"The reason I liked it was because for one or two cents I could acquire a customer and that sounded pretty good to me. Mind you, this was back in 2003 and today those sort of cost per clicks are not around. I didn't receive any advice, I just learnt as I went."

Salakas is also a big fan because he can track the return on investment of every action.

"I know that I spend x on advertising each month and it gets me y orders. I can then drill down and see which ads work better and which are not doing so well and adjust accordingly. When I went to university to study marketing they would say '50 per cent of advertising works, we just don't know which 50 per cent'. This is an old concept today, as with AdWords I know exactly what is working and what is not."

Two businesses: one with no Google AdWords success, the other with plenty. What is the reasoning behind such different results?

"For industries in which Google AdWords is suitable, the real key to success is in how you set up and structure your account from the start," Ilana Wechsler, founder and director of Green Arrow Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency, says.

"If you get this wrong, you will not succeed. Often I hear prospects say to me that Google AdWords hasn't or doesn't work for their business, and nine times out 10 their account just hasn't been structured properly. Strangely, Google doesn't really tell you this and it ends up costing businesses a lot of money.

"It is affectionately known in the industry as the Google Idiot Tax and applies to people who have set up their own account and don't know what they are doing. Google is doing itself a disservice in this regard, as those who experience such failure are often then skeptical about the value of utilising AdWords."

Wechsler says generally people go to the Google Search website to make a decision, but they go to the Google Display Network (for example, TheSydney Morning Herald website) or on to Facebook with no intention of making a decision. Advertisements on those platforms are an interruption to browsing behaviour and therefore need to be crafted differently.

"For example, no one goes on to to Facebook when looking to buy a new car," she says.

"Most of the time, AdWords on the Search Network is the perfect starting point for many businesses. This is primarily because it is the perfect testing ground for people who are actively searching. You can test different headlines and marketing messaging in the ads by observing the click-through rates on different ads.

"Once people click on the ads, you can then see how well your website performs in converting visitors into leads/buyers through analytics and heat mapping.

"Once this process has been refined and optimised, we pursue other online marketing strategies, such as Facebook advertising, remarketing, as well as content marketing, which feeds in perfectly with SEO."

This point is perhaps a key: small businesses shouldn't rely on just one aspect of the marketing mix to promote their business. Too many small businesses are not using all the marketing tools available to them.